


Green Tea Is Green

by Const3llations



Category: (여자)아이들 | (G)I-DLE
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, No cheating, Romance, Slice of Life, episodic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:54:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28882767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Const3llations/pseuds/Const3llations
Summary: Soojin's job gets a little crazier when a cute foreigner stops by the shop in search for a green tea slushie.
Relationships: Seo Soojin/Yeh Shuhua
Comments: 10
Kudos: 116





	1. Chapter 1

“Thank you!” Soojin said with a warm smile as she waved goodbye to the happy customers, each one now with their own biodegradable cup of green tea. It made her day when they waved back. Most were already glued to their smartphones, but she didn’t blame them. An electronic charm sounded from the half-broken speaker mounted from the wall as they opened the door, and entered the sweltering summer heat. 

It was the first week of July, and everybody had been out of school for over a month. Like the financially responsible person she was, Soojin had gotten a summer job. Her college tuition wasn’t going to magically pay for itself. The fact that her parents were even letting her study the performing arts was a miracle. 

What made the day worse was that it was a Saturday. Saturday’s signified the end of the typical Monday-Friday work week, which meant that there were even more people milling about the city streets. The New York City streets. 

It wasn’t her original plan to go to college at NYU, but the University was the only one to offer her some form of a partial-scholarship. She lived in a tiny apartment a couple blocks down the street, but she was still hundreds of miles away from her hometown of San Francisco. 

The shop she was working in was relatively new, a place aptly named Green Tea Inc. They marketed environmentally friendly Green Tea products at an affordable price. In Soojin’s eyes, they were basically the Green Tea Starbucks (not exactly a bad thing). 

Honestly, the job wasn’t too hard. All she had to do was listen to the customers order—which could be either hot, iced or slushie—and make it. She had help from her best friend and coworker, Yuqi, who was the person that got her the job. Right now Yuqi was on lunch break, leaving her alone to deal with the growing crowd. 

Soojin had begun recognize the faces of the regulars and committed their orders to memory; Mr. Jackson liked a large iced cup; Chou Tzuyu, her classmate, was addicted to the medium slushie with a spoon instead of a straw; and the kind old lady who came every morning, Mrs. Chong, enjoyed the traditional hot green tea with a small cup. 

The sound of the door opening snapped Soojin out of her daydreaming state, and she was greeted by the sight of the new customer. 

The girl was the most adorable person she had ever seen in her life. Based on her cautious posture, Soojin was one hundred percent positive that she was a tourist. By her facial features, she guessed that she was East Asian, if American-born probably the West Coast. 

The girl’s intense dark eyes were the first thing that caught her attention, two black pearls that seemed to soak in everything around them, a sharp contrast to her cute complexion. She wore simple denim jeans and an oversized jungle green t-shirt. Her skin was a golden white, and her dark hair splayed over her shoulders. 

“Oh—Welcome to Green Tea Inc.” Soojin stuttered, almost forgetting that she actually had to talk to the customers. She could hear Yuqi’s husky laugh in her head. “How may I help you?”

“Hi…” The girl said nervously, English clearly not being her first language. Soojin found her voice to be extremely endearing. “Soojin.”

For a split second, Soojin was confused as to how she knew her name. That was before she realized that she had a nametag on. “Hello…”

“Shuhua.” She responded shyly. 

Soojin adjusted the hem of her apron subconsciously. “Nice to meet you, Shuhua. Are you visiting New York?”

Shuhua nodded her head silently and held her hands protectively over her chest. 

“Well, Shuhua. Would you like to try some tea?” Soojin said in Korean, the only other language she knew besides English. 

Unfortunately, Shuhua still didn’t understand, so Soojin grabbed a small cup of the green tea slushie and gestured to her to come forward. 

“Here you go.” She couldn’t help but laugh a little when a smile appeared on her face. 

Soojin studied Shuhua intently; she smelled like freshly fallen peaches, and she carried a captivating aura that Soojin couldn’t quite explain. Shuhua ended up downing the entire thing in less than fifteen seconds. 

The girl reached inside her jean pocket and produced a small wallet. Soojin shook her head and pushed her hand away. “Please, you don’t have to pay.” 

Shuhua didn’t seem to get it and tried to mash the five-dollar bill into Soojin’s closed fist. 

“No.” Soojin said politely. “It’s ok.”

After two more attempts, Shuhua finally figured it out. A light hue of rosy pink appeared on her plump cheeks which caused butterflies to form in Soojin’s stomach. 

“Thank you.” Shuhua said shakingly, before turning abruptly and bolting out the door, like an angel ascending back up the stairs of heaven. 

Soojin had a funny feeling that she would be back. 

-Ω-

“You have anything interesting to tell me?” Yuqi asked as they began to clean up the shop for the night. 

Soojin frowned her brow as she deposited a used wad of stray tissues into the recycling bin. “No? Why?”

Yuqi gave her a knowing smile and tapped the side of her head with her index finger. “You can’t lie to me Seo Soojin, I can tell.”

“What does that even mean, Song Yuqi?” Soojin countered, genuinely puzzled. 

“You have that look on your face when you’ve met somebody that you like.” Yuqi stated plainly as she finished down wiping the front countertop. “So, who was the lucky lady?”

Soojin was starting to believe that Yuqi was some sort of secret CIA spy, or maybe an alien. The girl seemed to know what she was feeling at any point in time. 

“Nobody.”

Yuqi pinched her arm on her way to hang up their aprons. “Sounds like a lovely person, never met somebody named Nobody before.”

“I hate you.” Soojin grumbled, before turning off the lights and stepping out into the frigid Northeastern night. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Not sure how long it's going to be. Constructive feedback/criticism is enjoyed. Recommendations for scenes are also welcomed.


	2. Chapter 2

Soojin leaned back on the counter and rubbed her eyes. She checked the arms of the clock on the wall for the millionth time that hour. Thirty more minutes until she was free to go collapse on her bed, and blackout. Whoever assigned her the morning shift was going to have to pay with their life. Being forced to wake up at six in the morning should be illegal. Her tiredness was accentuated since she had stayed up past midnight binge watching v-live’s of her favorite kpop girl group. 

Being a kpop idol had always been her ultimate dream, although an impossible one. The chances of it happening were extremely slim. She had a better shot at being a background dancer. 

Soojin was on her way to the backroom to start the dishwasher when she heard the door open. “I’ll be out in a second!”

There was no response, so she figured that the customer had airpods in and couldn’t hear her. Or they just didn’t care, which was ok and understandable. It was New York City, a place where one can meet all kinds of interesting people. 

After mashing a random set of buttons and rinsing her hands, Soojin walked back to the front, only to find Shuhua standing silently near the entrance. 

Today she was wearing a fashionable black trench coat that only she could pull off, with a fine pair of brown boots to accompany them with. She had tied back her hair in an ornamental bun that made her look like a princess from a historical k-drama. 

“Hi Shuhua.”

Shuhua fingers raced across the keyboard of her phone. Soojin assumed that she was translating a response. 

“Hi Soojin, h—how are you…today?” Shuhua said in the cutest broken English, reading off Google translate. “Sorry, I can only…speak Chinese. My...English is bad.” 

Soojin had the unnecessary urge to hop across the counter and cuddle her. Shuhua was the literal definition of a lost girl in the city. 

“That’s quite alright, I’m sure we’ll be able to make things work.” Soojin gestured to the tea machines behind her. “Want some?” 

Shuhua nodded her head up and down, pointing at the image on the chalkboard for a hot cup. 

After giving her the tea, Soojin watched Shuhua make her way to the corner seat of the shop, and sit down. Shuhua produced a small notebook from her bookbag, and gave her a small wave. 

Before Soojin could ask her what she was doing, a mass group of customers flooded the shop. It would have to wait. 

“Welcome to Green Tea Inc…”

-Ω-

Soojin felt bad for making Shuhua wait for over an hour, but she didn’t seem to mind. They stole not-so-secret glances at each other as Soojin zipped around the back counter, fulfilling people’s orders. 

Once the last of the lunch rush had finally cleared, Soojin made her way over to Shuhua, who was busy sketching a  _ beautiful _ portrait of a lady. 

Although she barely knew her, Soojin felt a pang of jealousy as she sat down in the opposite chair. Shuhua looked up and blushed slightly, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. 

Soojin took more time to study the hyper-realistic piece of art. So far it was only a basic outline, but it was already the best drawing she had ever seen, and it was done with a generic yellow Ticonderoga pencil. 

On her second scan of the paper, Soojin picked up on a couple distinct features of the portrait that looked like Shuhua. The shape and placement of the eyes; the curve and size of the ears; the angle of the chin. But it wasn’t Shuhua, more like...an older version of her. 

A spark went off inside her head, and she immediately felt like an idiot for being jealous earlier.

“Wow.” Soojin knew the Chinese word for mom, since Yuqi often talked in the language when she was mad (which was actually quite often). “Mom?”

Shuhua stopped mid-stroke and gave her a sad smile. “Ya.”

Speaking of the devil, Yuqi pushed open the door to take charge of the afternoon shift. Soojin made sure to give her coworker a death glare that sent a clear-cut message: don’t say anything dumb. To which Yuqi responded with raised eyebrows and a suspicious smirk.

Soojin turned her attention back to Shuhua, who was unmistakably homesick. The girl’s eyes were very telling. The way they sagged. The makeup that desperately tried to conceal the bags underneath. She was stressed out. 

“Would you like to take a walk?” Soojin asked, illustrating her message by moving her middle and index fingers back and forth. The best thing she could give her right now was some fresh air, and thankfully the light drizzle from earlier had let up. 

Shuhua nodded her head again and began packing her drawing materials away. 

“You guys going on a date without letting me know?” Yuqi joked as she reappeared from the backroom while tying her apron. 

Soojin stuck her tongue out at her and took Shuhua’s hand. And together, they pushed open the door and disappeared into the dazzling (and scary) lights of New York City. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I've started a discord server for people that like to read/write (G)I-DLE fanfics, and I would love you to death if you joined. https://discord.gg/eT2gbYRjM8


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn’t nearly as crowded as Soojin expected it to be, which was a good thing because Shuhua was already worried enough. She tucked her arm underneath hers like a mother would do with her daughter. 

They shared a quick conversation over Google translate, and Soojin found out that Shuhua was actually staying at the same apartment complex as they were. 

“Are you a student?” Soojin asked in rough Chinese as she guided them through another intersection. “Abroad?”

Shuhua nodded her head again grimly, and a couple seconds later she responded in Korean. Her mispronunciations were honestly kind of cute, in a weird way. “I had to come alone, my parents couldn’t afford to leave my sister behind.”

Soojin always knew that she was lucky to be born in the US, but being with Shuhua put it into an entirely new perspective. She couldn’t imagine how Shuhua was holding up, it was incredible. If Soojin was being one-hundred percent transparent, she herself would just stay huddled in her room and barely move. 

She also wasn’t sure exactly where they were going, but Shuhua didn’t seem to mind or notice. They were approximately four blocks away from the shop in the West direction.

The drizzle from before had started up again, and the miniature droplets of rain made Shuhua’s hair shiny.

A glowing sign advertising Macy’s appeared up in front of them, and Soojin supposed there was no better way to get to know a girl than to go clothes shopping with her. 

“Do you want to shop?” She asked Shuhua, who was too busy staring at two pigeons battling over a piece of soggy bread. 

“Huh?”

“Shop?” Soojin pointed at the giant superstore.

Shuhua shook her head and spoke in English. “No money.”

“It’s ok, I can pay.”

Apparently Soojin’s Chinese was truly terrible, because after three tries with and without the Google, she still couldn’t get her point across. So, she grabbed Shuhua’s arm and dragged them through the rotating doors. 

“Come on, let’s have some fun.”

-Ω-

“Shuhua, you look ridiculous.” Soojin tried to contain her amusement as they both stared at the tiny mirror in the changing room. Shuhua was wearing a bright pink tutu from the children’s aisle, and it  _ definitely _ should not have been able to stretch that wide. 

Shuhua gave herself a twirl, finishing with an adorable ending fairy that would rival any kpop idol. The fact that this was the same shy, quiet girl from before was wild. 

They had spent the last two hours trying on probably hundreds of different outfits. To be fair, they started seriously first, with fashionable coats and dresses, but when Soojin came back with a leather jacket with a million rhinestones, it was game over. 

It was quite the wonder that they hadn’t been kicked out of the establishment yet. 

_ Knock. Knock _ . 

“Excuse me, miss? Are you ok?” A store employee asked from outside.

Soojin and Shuhua stared wide-eyed at each other. Shuhua smiling stupidly was the nail in the coffin for Soojin’s sanity, and she burst out in laughter. 

And that was how Soojin and Shuhua got life-time bans from the Macy’s in New York City. And more than a couple weird looks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually decided to continue this story because why not. Still probably not going to be long, maybe 4 or 5 chapters max? I don't know lol.


	4. Chapter 4

“Well Shuhua, this is my apartment.” Soojin said as she flicked on the lights. “It’s not much, but it works well enough.” 

Soojin was, to be quite frank, embarrassed about the current state of her living space. There were articles of clothing everywhere. Bags of unpacked dry groceries were being stored in the most unusual places. Thankfully, the bathroom was in some sort of a decent state. 

The only decorations on the walls were a couple of k-pop posters, and a multicolored tapestry because she was  _ edgy _ . 

Shuhua waited patiently by the closed doorway as Soojin cleared out the futon for them to sit on. 

“Are you hungry?” Soojin asked in English. “I can cook something real quick, if you want.” 

Shuhua tapped a few keys on her phone and let the Google translate voice play out loud. “Do you know how to make seaweed soup?” 

“Seaweed soup?” Soojin tilted her head slightly. “I’ll see what I got. Wanna help?”

-Ω-

Shuhua was a terrible cook. Plain and simple. There was no other way around it. 

The recipe for seaweed soup required only a handful of ingredients, and Shuhua was making it way more complicated than it had to be. To be fair, the language barrier presented a couple issues. But at the end of the day, seaweed was still seaweed. 

And Shuhua was apparently still Shuhua. 

Soojin looked over her shoulder. “Shuhua.”

“Hmm?”

“Are you sure that was salt that you put in there?” 

Shuhua gave her a cute thumbs up and pointed to the jar across the counter confidently, before returning to stirring the pot. 

“Shuhua.”

“Hmm?”

“That’s sugar.” 

Soojin sat back later and watched Shuhua delicately sip the last of the sugary soup from the bottom of the bowl, and she knew she had a friend for life. And maybe more. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! Thanks for reading this short story. Peace out.


End file.
